We don't sell the region half as effectively as it could be. Who the **** wanted to go to dark and dingy Manchester in the early 90s?
i agree, but i'd prefer to look at it as a well kept secret. Who wants to be beseiged by bloody southerners and foreigners anyway?
Good post mate. Seems you've been a few places. I personally have no problem with footballers wanting to stay local because of family reasons. Kevin Philips sited the same reasons when didn't come to us the second time around and don't the Midlands tour instead, said his kids were settled in school.Flip side to that is they are willing to come of you pay over the odds. Geography will always be an issue. As for the Boston opportunity, its more than a feeling lol. do you ever wonder what mite have been if you'd took the opportunity or is it something you just see as a thanks but no thanks part of your life?
The money likely to be offered by NUFC will undoubtedly attract some for a couple of years at least but very few top (for this read Champions League quality) players have ever hung around up here beyond the first couple of years of their contract. This might change if they are consistently successful as anybody who's ever spent a decent amount of time in Liverpool will attest - you really don't go there for the extravagant night life or the shopping - as they have been able to bring in world class talent although holding on to them once they reach the very peak has been a challenge even for them. China and Russia have both recently thrown bucket loads of cash towards players and managers to try and get them to come and neither of those experiments had ended very well - both are beautiful countries if you take the time to look but generally that's not how the modern day footballer thinks. I am sure that even us, being the biggest club in L1, have had L1 standard players turn us down because of an ignorance of everything that the North East has to offer.
I often think about what would have happened if we'd moved to Boston. But I think it was the right decision for the family at that time and since then I've setup (and closed) my own business and joined a great company in 2019 who are perfectly happy for me to be in the NE. I don't do regrets, but must admit a big house, pool, basketball court and american muscle car would've been nice
